How Naya founder Hady Kfoury turned his mother's Lebanese kitchen into a fast-growing NYC food empire | amNewYork

Lebanese hospitality shapes every bowl served at NAYA. The inspiration began in the founder’s mother’s kitchen, where cooking expressed love and family gatherings kept the table full. Food was treated as more than eating, with weekly Sunday meals prepared for large groups and a tradition of people sharing lunch together. The founder spent time in the kitchen watching and asking questions, learning that hospitality and warmth were central to meals. As a child, he was also drawn to hospitality staff in New York for their precision and kindness. His path led from Lebanon to New York, then to hospitality school in Switzerland, building a foundation for bringing that feeling to others.

"Lebanese hospitality is at the heart of every bowl served at NAYA but for founder Hady Kfoury, the inspiration behind the fast-growing Middle Eastern chain began long before the company expanded to 45 locations across the United States. It started in his mother's kitchen. In Lebanon, food is how a mother speaks. When you cannot find the words, you cook, when family comes together, the table is never empty, that is not generosity, that is just how loved, I raised my children around the table, and Hady has built his whole life trying to give that feeling to others, his mother said."

"Every Sunday, Kfoury's mother and grandma prepared home-cooked meals for 20-30 family members gathered around the table. It was a tradition every Sunday. People were always having lunch together. His mother remembers him as the child who has always been closest to her among his two brothers, constantly in the kitchen asking questions about the meal. His mother remembers him as the child who was constantly in the kitchen, asking questions before most kids even thought about dinner. Hady was always in the kitchen, always watching, always asking, Kfoury's mother said."

"Every morning before school, he would ask me, Mama, what are we having for dinner?' I always knew food was not just hunger for him. It was something deeper. That early curiosity eventually led Kfoury from Lebanon to New York. At only 8 years old, he was mesmerized by the hospitality staff-how they worked with precision and warmth. The memory stuck with him all throughout his years of schooling."

"After earning his green card at age 12 a decision he credits largely to his mother pushing for dual citizenship amid instability in Lebanon he spent summers in New York before attending hospitality school in Switzerland at EHL Hospitality Business School, formerly known as Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne. This culinary school is known as the Conrell of fine dining."

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